


Broken

by LittleLover11



Series: The Arrow and The Scarlet Masquerader [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC Comics
Genre: Abuse, Broken, DC comics - Freeform, F/M, Heroes, Love, Major Character Injury, Romance, alive not dead, oliver queen is a hero, saved - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-22 17:46:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10701984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleLover11/pseuds/LittleLover11
Summary: I have never really told anyone my story before, but I guess it is a time to try to tell my story. I'm Elizabeth Carpenter, and this is my story.





	1. Chapter 1

At night I would lie in bed and pray to God that I would be alive as the sun rose above my head. My life was never going to be easy. That was a fact that was set in stone from day one. The sad life of Elizabeth Carpenter.  My life existed for the pleasure of others as they stepped on me to rise to the top.   
  
It was my year anniversary of living with the world’s largest douche bag. It was, of course, nothing to celebrate because I was sold in a sex trafficking group in Starling City to him. Abused, raped, and almost killed by one man who was already wanted in prison for numerous other crimes. He gained me last year in 2012 when my “owner” was murdered by a gang. Walking around his house I realized in some cases I was lucky. I got a working kitchen, bathroom, and a non-leaky roof over my head. Those were a few of the plus ones about living here.   
  
This was one of those days I didn’t want to do anything, but be lazy and lay on the couch ignoring the whole world. Living with Kyle, however, meant that I never got a break that I wanted. All I got was him on top of me twenty-four-seven and me having to agree to it or I might lose my life.   
  
While I sat here on this couch I felt safe, which was odd. I never ever felt safe when I was in the same room as Kyle. He was sitting on the brown leather couch opposite me downing his beer. His green eyes were locked onto the screen of the large TV mounted above a small fireplace. A football game was on, and that was all he cared about next to his beer. Kyle cursed as they missed a possible touchdown.   
  
Watching the almost touchdown made me remember my marching band days. The High School I went to had a horrible team, but the band was the best around (of course nothing like the State band). I went to a small High School that was outside of Starling City, and it was brilliantly crafted for the gifted students with brains.   
  
Today was one of those days that Kyle made me wear a tight small maid dress. It revealed everything I never wanted anyone to see. I felt uncomfortable, but it was an uncomfortable feeling that I had gotten over because nothing I could do would fix this. I was stuck as a slave to an abusive owner with no drinking gourd above my head to guide me.   
  
“Honey can you order pizza!”   
  
Kyle would often yell at me even if I was three feet away from him. It was honestly one of the more annoying qualities of him. I don’t think he even knew what whispering was at all. I wish he did, though, maybe the neighbors would call the cops one day on him.   
  
“Sure.”   
  
My body slowly but surely got up from the brown leather couch. As I passed Kyle he slapped my butt making me flinch. I sighed as I got into the other room to place the call. My slender white fingers picked up the small red telephone in the kitchen. My eyes wandered around catching glimpse of the red, black, and white checkered themed kitchen. It looked like a Steak n’ Shake restaurant that was common on the east side of the Mississippi river. I remember visiting my grandma in Ohio and eating at one every night.   
  
The phone dialed the number I put in for what seemed like years. My foot tapped impatiently on the black and white marble tile. Kyle almost never lets me order on the phone or online.   
  
Come on, pick up already.   
  
I was usually all technology free so that I wouldn’t make my escape by making contact with the outside world. I was a prisoner here, and alien to the outer world. My life was something that was different than what most people lived. Then there was a loud, click.    
  
“Hello?”   
  
I smiled as I heard another human being’s voice. It sounded so good to hear someone other than Kyle and his gang of idiots. In the other room, he screamed at the TV loudly making me wonder if I could actually pull this off. He was drunk enough that I probably could pull it off.   
  
“Hey is this Pizza Hut?”   
  
“Who is this?”   
  
The man had ordered the information from me angrily. I knew it was extremely wrong to call the cops and ask for pizza, but I had to hide that I was calling the cops from Kyle. If I didn’t hide that fact I would most likely be dead on the floor right now. I was doing this for an extremely good cause, though. Right? I sighed as I tried to continue on without getting myself arrested in the process.   
  
“Are you the Pizza Hut or not?”   
  
The man slightly growled making me wince. Growling usually happened before I got hit in the face or injured badly. Kyle had stood up from his chair to come into the kitchen to grab another beer, but he did this to just fall back down onto the leather couch. He tried to stand up but passed out in the process of doing so. I wiped my brow happily as I watched the passed out drunk idiot.   
  
“No, I think you have the wrong number.”   
  
I started to softly cry in hopes that the man would come to his senses. My prayers to up above that if not today that I would be saved another day. I needed out of this hell hole, and now.   
  
My fingers tightly gripped the phone, and I wondered if I was going to break it in the process. My fear levels were rising. My eyes were watering at the thought of being free. Was I finally breaking free? Wasn’t I breaking free? My mind was in five million different places at once, and I couldn't exactly focus on one place. I needed to get out of here. Away from Kyle. To be free of this pain that I didn't need in my life.  A pain that nobody should ever have in their life.   
  
“I know that I don’t have the wrong number.”   
  
There was silence on the other end of the line, and then I heard the man realize what was happening. I smiled with slight joy as he realized I needed police help. My little victory slightly woke up Kyle. He looked around the room, and he asked if I ordered pizza. I told him that I just placed the order and was giving them the address. Kyle nodded, closed his eyes, and drifted off into dreamland.   
  
“What’s your name and address.”   
  
I gladly gave it to them as I watched Kyle slowly stir once more. My fear levels were continuing to rise to the point I thought I was about to break down and have a panic attack. What if he woke up and figured out I called the cops? I would lose my head and never gain my freedom. Then he might be in jail, and I saved another girl from rape. That would be a day I would live for.   
  
“Can you be here in fifteen minutes and,” I softened my voice, “Arrest Kyle Richards for sex trafficking? And possibly bring me an ambulance?”   
  
“Yes ma’am, we will be on our way.”   
  
I nodded as I ended the call to place the phone back in its holder. I walked to the fridge, grabbed a beer, and walked into the living room. Kyle opened his eyes and looked up at me smiling. He smacked my butt again as I walked by, and I couldn't help but wonder why I never tried to call before. Maybe there was a part of me that like this life. A part of me that enjoyed the feeling of all this pain.    
  
“Where would I be without you?”   
  
I shrugged, forced a smile, and handed him his beer which he gladly took. I stepped back in case he might hit me again or something. I was tired and weak. Yet, this was something i had lived with and I was used to. I wonder what I could do if I went back to my old life. A normal human being's life, but I doubt that I could ever get back there.   
  
“I dunno. Here?”   
  
Kyle laughed before he opened the bottle with his hands. He then tipped the rip of the glass up to his lips to swallow his poison. I could tell the alcohol was killing his liver badly, and he maybe had about one percent of a working liver.    
  
“Funny. I would be lost one hundred percent. You have opened my mind up to new things.”   
  
I opened a cell door in Iron Heights for you, wanted to say, and you are never getting out.   
  
My body quickly took its seat on the other brown leather couch as we waited for the “pizza” to arrive. It took about ten minutes before there was a loud knock on the door. I jumped making Kyle glare at me.   
  
“Bitch what did you do!"    
  
“HELP!”   
  
I started to scream at the top of my lungs for dear life as Kyle grabbed his handgun. I heard men yell at the door before the wooden door splintered open. Ten policemen came in guns raised, and they were my heroes in blueish black uniforms. Kyle grabbed me by my hair and bashed my head into the coffee table. I yelped as I was thrown to the tiled ground.   
  
“BITCH! This will be your last day alive!”   
  
Kyle aimed the gun at my head, but a policeman risked his life as he dove towards Kyle tackling him to the ground. The officer tased Kyle so that he could no longer move (which I was grateful for).   
  
The man who I had called came in with a large blanket for me. He picked me up slowly making me question him touching me as he carried me out of the house, but he was an officer and he seemed nice.   
  
“Breathe. What’s your name?”    
  
“Elizabeth Carpenter.”   
  
I curled deeper into the comfort of the large blanket as he carried me across the wet dew lawn. It was dark outside with a bright pale sliver of a moon hanging in the south. The stars shone brightly behind the blaring lights of the police cars.   
  
“Well Elizabeth, I am Detective Quentin Lance.”    
  
He slowly put me down, and I moved slowly next to him as I walked less than three feet to the ambulance’s back door. My nimble feet quickly failed me making the office have to catch me.   
  
“Sir? Do you have a family?”   
  
He smiled proudly at the thought of his family, and I wish that I could do the same. His eyes twinkled with the good memories of his families. Yet, with all those good memories there were sad ones. He shook his head noting that he did have a family. I began to wonder how many people were in his family. Family was a word that I didn't know at all. It was a word that seemed to hid itself in the darkness away from me. All I ever wanted was a perfect little family, but instead I got Hell.   
  
All I wanted to do was to forget the fact that I was a slave to Kyle and sold in sex trafficking.   
  
“I do. I am divorced from my wife, and I had two daughters.”   
  
My bare feet on the cool ground made me shiver violently. I wrapped the thick blanket tighter around me to try and gain warmth, but that truly was not possible at all. My body still continued to shiver violently as the freezing cold took over any warmth that I had.   
  
“What are their names?”   
  
“My late daughter’s name is Sarah, and the other is Laurel. Both sweet and loving."    
  
Late daughter? I wondered how she died. Based on his age she would be late twenties early thirties. Then my sick brain calculated all the ways you could die. My body shivered even more on that thought. Why would I think of at least two hundred different ways this girl could have died? Was I really this type of person to think of how someone could die? I felt dark in that moment like something in my life was missing. There was a hole in my chest and I needed whatever it was back.   
  
“W-what happened to the one?”   
  
“Boat went down. Enough about me. Are you okay?”   
  
Boat sinking was not on my list of two hundred ways to die, but getting bitten by a shark was. Wonder what happened to the boat, and I wondered if there were any survivors on the boat at all. I never have been on a boat, and I have never wanted to. I prefer land activities more than water ones. I haven't gone swimming since god knows when because of my captivity.   
  
“No, never gonna be okay. Never.”   
  
I slowly fell over onto the ground. Paramedics surrounded me like a swarm of bees. My heart broke as my body shattered on the ground. Talking was more like screams, and sirens sounded more like the loud screaming cries of a parade of mourners. The sound of beeping machines only made my head throb even more. The lights over my head were blinding like a thousand suns making me close them to just see darkness. I was one with the darkness as she wrapped her warm embrace around me.   
  
My eyes fluttered opened to see that there were five doctors and nurses surrounding me with needles, clipboards, and a tray with items. I watched in horror as one slowly stuck a needle into my arm making me wince.   
  
“Hey, how are you feeling Miss. Carpenter?”   
  
The sweet nurse asked me as everyone else left. She looked like some guardian angel as she walked majestically around the room. Her name tag read: Angelica. I think it was odd that her name matched with her actions quite so well. Her parents should win parents of the year awards or something.    
  
I shook my head. Then a wave of dizziness hit me like a freight train. It probably wasn't smart to shake my head while I probably have a very bad concussion. My eyes did their best to focus on the spinning white room, but I couldn’t get to the point that everything was one hundred percent clear. I was probably going to have to get glasses.    
  
She cleared her throat as well as restated her question.   
  
  
“Dead, but I’ve seen and been through hell.”   
  
She took a look at everything and checked out my eyes with a bright light. I tried my hardest not to blink, but that was impossible to do. There was a bright light in my face and my natural instinct was to shut my eyes. They flickered open to see her looking into my eyes studying them.   
  
“I’m sorry. Is there anyone you can see or go to?”   
  
I looked back up at the TV that was hooked up to the blue whitewashed wall. The world looked like it had gone to hell, literally. Apparently, there was a hooded vigilante going around killing rich people in Starling City. Part of me wished he would just kill the men who kidnapped me. Kill everyone in the sex trafficking industry completely.   
  
“No. I am broke and I got nothing.”   
  
She began to sympathize with me which is not what I wanted from anyone for the time being. Correction, I never want anyone to sympathize with me ever. Sympathizing made me feel like a weak runt who had to lean on the help of others, which was not what I wanted in life. I wanted to be a free, strong, and independent woman.   
  
“I am sorry.”


	2. Chapter 2

 

Three days passed by and my mind was still in it's confused state of whether or not to miss where I was or enjoy my current. The real world seemed so strange from what my life has been like. I kinda of miss it, but there was the part of me that told me it was in the past and I should not dwell there in it. There was no way I could go back to people like Kyle and feel his wrath, but I missed the roughness of it all. Me feeling lower was kinda of an addiction to me, but it had to be thrown into the past.   
  
They finally allowed me to exit the hospital after a few days of needles, scans, and doctors asking all these questions. It was honestly annoying asking me where I was touches during all the sex from the guys as well as all the abuse. I think they can guess where I was touched without a problem. After I had left the hospital with new and very clean clothes I felt better. I felt some how more alive.   
  
I got a police escort to Queen Consolidated. I was heading there to see an old friend. Detective Lance drove me there because he wanted to keep an eye on me in case another sex trafficker came after me in revenge for Kyle going to jail. I was happy in the fact that there was a silent car ride. He kept his eyes on me and the road and make sure that I was okay. I was, but I wasn't.   
  
“Hey Miss. Carpenter. If you need anything I am only one call away. Feel like there is danger or you need a ride I am here.”   
  
“Thanks Detective Lance. I think I’ll be fine, but if I am not I will call you.”   
  
I quickly walked over the hard rock cement into Queen Consolidated. I had a pass from Detective Lance that said I could go to see my friend. As I walked in I felt small and lost. I felt like a tiny atom compared to the rest of the world around me. I after about a minute of gawking in confusion found the front desk. The man there was tired as he sipped a cup of coffee, so I asked them for the IT department. They pointed to an elevator and told me the floor number.   
  
The elevator ride was the worst minute of my life. It was super slow, and I felt like the cords that held my little box would let go at any minute. It was a pretty green inside, but it didn't help much at all. Before I got taken into the sex trafficking I used to love elevators, but the amount of elevators I rode with my abusers didn't help me much. I never wanted to see another door to an elevator, ride an elevator, or even hear the music that is played on an elevator. Wait, take that back. Bach is playing and it happens to be my mothers favorite so maybe some elevator songs are okay.   
  
My feet walked over the clearly polished marble floor. The floor looked like a mirror and I fixed my calf length skirt so that you couldn’t see my underwear through it’s clear reflection. Which was oddly weird and I kind of hoped that no one was looking at my underwear. It just wasn't something I wanted anyone to see. No one ever should see you in your underwear except your parents (when you're a kid) and your husband. Unfortunately that didn't quite work out for me.   
  
I swung open a large  glass door widely and looked in to see her sitting there in her usually cute goofy outfit and working hard. Felicity wasn't always cute. I remember she used to wear darker clothes and she kinda of looked goth. Her hair was dark, and she was the sweetest nerd I knew. I was a nerd to, but I wore bright colors and preppy stuff. She was the darker of the two of us, but I guess that role switched.   
  
“Felicity?”   
  
Her head perked up from her computer. I could see in the reflection of her glasses her brain's wheel turning a million miles an hour like a perfect computer. She spun around on her wheelchair and her bright and beautiful eyes landed on mine, and my heart stopped. The one person I cared for the most was right in front of me for the first time in forever. I felt like a door had been opened for me, and it was a door to happiness not hell. Her jaw dropped to the ground as I walked towards her. She jumped up from her seat and wrapped her arms around me into one of those tight hugs you never wanted to leave. As I pulled her in a caught the scent of her strawberry shampoo. It was one of those "Felicity Things" that I loved. I guess after all those years of change for her she never stopped using the same brand of shampoo.   
  
“Oh my god. Elizabeth! It’s been what?”   
  
I sighed as we pulled away not wanting to. Her hugs were always something that made me feel better, and that was kind of what I needed in my life.  Felicity was like a sister to me. Our mothers were friends until my mother's death when I was ten. Felicity and her mother took me over to their house as much as they could, but my father moved with me into the worst part of a town where everything was drugs and guns. I was fine being back here in Starling City where I belonged. My mother was born here too which was a plus for me. She was buried here in a cemetery where I would visit once a year all those years ago.   
  
“Ten years.”   
  
“I heard what happened. Are you okay?”   
  
She pulled me into another tight hug. Which was more than nice of her to do for me. I haven’t been loved in a very long time. Love was something that I thought died a long time ago. Love was something that seemed to be once in a blue moon for me. Love was not a thing that came easy to me. It was a thing that hid in the darkness, and I had to find it. I, whoever, almost never found it, because it was always hidden, and always will be hidden.   
  
“Yeah, I am okay-”   
  
“Hey, Felicity can you run this for me?”   
  
I looked over at the rude man who interrupted my conversation with my friend. My eyes gawked and my jaw dropped. There stood the billionaire Oliver Queen. He was honestly the most fine specimen of a man. If I were a doctor I would love to study every last inch of his body. He was so perfect, but I could never get  guy like that. I was probably going to be single the rest of my life, but he was the kind of man I wanted. Strong, cute, and downright sexy. I stared at him, looked at Felicity, and looked back at him. I honestly wasn’t sure what to think at the moment.   
  
“Um sure, Oliver this is Elizabeth Carpenter.”   
  
Oliver smiled down at me due to my lack in height with kindness and something else I couldn't quite place. I shoved everything that just happened aside and handed my hand out. Oliver and I shared a firm five-second handshake, and then I looked up at him because once again I lack the proper height of a normal human being. You couldn’t deny that he was attractive. This man had to be the hottest man alive next to Tom Hiddleston.    
  
“You’re the girl who was-”   
  
I nodded in pain and in agony that I was reminded I missed the pain. I quickly showed my acknowledgment that that was who I was going to be seen as for awhile. The girl who was raped and saved by the police. What a great title! I looked up at the ceiling tiles to keep myself from crying. I missed Kyle in a way. I needed pain or something. Something was missing, and I still couldn't tell exactly what I was missing in my life. I needed something. Someone.   
  
“Yes.”   
  
Felicity stopped picking on her keyboard and looked back at me. Her eyes searched mine for a moment to see if I was alright. I tilted my head trying to see what she was thinking. Some days you could read Felicity like an open book, and other days you simply couldn't do it. I knew her complex mind was thinking hard, but that was all that I could do. She was magnificent in the way that she thought about things. Her perfectness was beyond me and the Universe around her.   
  
“Do you need a place to stay?”   
  
“Yeah, but I was looking at-”   
  
Felicity gave me one of those looks for me to shut up. A loud sigh passed my lips unintentionally. I knew exactly what she was going to say next, and I knew I didn’t like it. I hated when people bought stuff for me or even helped me. It aggravated me to an extreme that was not okay. I was old enough to care for myself and be who I was without help.   
  
“I know you don’t have money, and you’re like a sister to me.”   
  
I sighed as I fixed my shirt nervously. I had a tendency to fix things with my small amount of OCD and my anxiety issues. I probably needed a doctor for those, but I honestly didn't want to see another doctor for the rest of my life. All the questions reminded me of school, and how much I hated it.   
  
“True, but a roof over my head is not what I need. I need a hero to help me save good girls who were sold into hell.”   
  
Oliver shifted and looked at me thoroughly like he was planning something. I didn't like men planning or anyone else, because it made me look dumb. I was probably the dumbest person in this room. I didn't graduate anything. I was instead busy being raped for the time being when I should of had my head buried in textbooks.   
  
“I am afraid we all need a hero.”   
  
Felicity looked back at her work and at me, and her eyes told me that she agreed with what I had to say. Oliver cleared his throat gathering my attention. I looked up into his blue eyes and saw something else in them, but I couldn’t quite place it. Something was off about this attractive billionaire.   
  
“Hey, Elizabeth if you want I have a spot at my house for cleaning. I know it doesn’t sound fun, but I can give you much more than minimum wage.”   
  
I looked at Oliver Queen with a short smile. I wanted money and a roof over my head, but I had my fill with being a maid. I just couldn’t see myself cleaning anymore. In those ridiculous outfits. I just couldn't do it. I shook my head to snap out of it. My body slowly failed me and I started to fall backward towards the ground. Oliver reached out and grabbed me tightly on my arm. I silently thanked him as I fixed my outfit a bit as I tried to brush off my embarrassment.   
  
“Let me think on it. For now, I gotta find someone who will listen to me to bring the men down who hurt me and others.”   
  
Oliver nodded sadly that I wouldn’t quite take him up on the offer right now. Both Oliver and Felicity looked at me for a minute trying to decide what I was going to say or do next, and to be quite honest I didn’t know what I was about to do.

  
Felicity fixed her hair so that the single strand was out of her face. She then cleared her throat catching both Oliver, and I’s attention towards her. We both stared at her for what felt like forever, but it was probably about two seconds.   
  
“Hey Oliver, I am going to go get lunch, but I will call you when I crack this one.”   
  
He scrunched up his face as he waved his hands saying that it was fine, but something in his eyes says that it wasn’t fine. He quickly stuffed his hands in his pockets as if he had to hide something from us. Something dark probably. I knew that look.   
  
“No problem. Just get it done before tomorrow if you can.”   
  
Felicity fixed her glasses and smiled up at him. They seemed to be the best of friends. Then again I never saw Felicity with rich guys. Then again I thought I would never see her preppy and happy.   
  
“Will do.”   
  
I looked at the plant on Felicity’s desk. It was green, living, and beautiful. Part of me wished I was living and green. Because green meant good and the go ahead in life. I was currently sitting on the side of the road of life with a flat tire. Oliver tapped my shoulder waking me out of my short daze with a green plant. I slowly gazed up at him trying to focus, but with my small concussion that was kind of hard to do.   
  
“Hey, if you need anything just call me. Here is my number. I know what pain is and I can’t imagine what you're going through.”   
  
I looked down at the floor and blushed as I stared at his number. It was clearly written, but it was most certainly identifiable as a boy’s handwriting. Why would he give me out of all the people in the world. Why would he give me his number. I felt like I was just given a million dollars to spend freely.   
  
“Thanks.”   
  
Oliver offered me a hug and I gladly took it. He smelled like expensive shampoo, cologne, and sweat like he had been working out. I wish I knew more about the guy before I worked for him. There was that strong part of me that didn't trust guys anymore.   
  
“Hey, you must be hungry. Want to go to that restaurant we went to all the time?”   
  
I looked at her before processing everything as a headache grew. I was slowly losing my mind as I looked at her face. Did she get new frames for her glasses? Why did she have to change her hair? Now she looked way too much like her mother.   
  
“That place still exist?”   
  
Felicity nodded her head as she grabbed her coat. She then quickly typed on her keyboard logging her off her computer. The technology was another thing that I needed to catch up on after ten years of being away from basically all of it. I probably was missing out on phones. I wondered if the million mile long antenna on phones was a thing that was still around.   
  
“Yeah.”   
  
“Let’s go.”   
  
As I turned to walk out of the office I tripped on a trash bin. I looked up from underneath a few papers up at her. I sighed as I gave up with everything. She helped me up as well as clean up the mess I made. As I tried to apologize to her she told me it was fine. We walked out of the building mostly unharmed, but I still felt like I did something wrong with my life.


	3. Chapter 3

Felicity put me in her car and drove me to the restaurant, but it turns out that they were closed. Then we both made the executive derision to go to her nice apartment. We quickly walked up a few flights of stairs without me getting hurt. As we walking into the apartment itself she told me that the dinner could wait for another day. So she quickly ordered pizza and a two liter Coke for me.

I slowly walked over towards her grey couch and crashed into it. I sighed as the warmth and comfort of my friend's house took me in. It was beautiful to look around at. Everything smelled nice and clean too. Not like a filthy dirty house filled with beer and cigarette smoke. The apartment's size was the disadvantage though, but it was beautiful which made everything better in my mind.

I listened to her footsteps attentively, which was not a strange thing for me. She was in the kitchen putting her keys into a bowl rather loudly. The metal of the keys made that clinking sound that drives some mad. Her purse made a soft sound on her counter, and then her loud footsteps on the wooden floor into the living room where I was. I always took in the information of my surroundings. It was just how I was as a person. Always taking in every last little detail.

“So. You’ve been gone for ten years. What do you want to do?”

“Right now," I paused and looked at her over excited face. I didn't want to disappoint her, but then again I was always a let down. "I want to sleep.”

I felt a pillow hit my rear making me laugh. Felicity laughed as she threw another at me. I sighed as I tilted my head towards her, but all I got was a face full of pillow. I growled as I grabbed one and threw it her way hitting her in the arm. I looked back into the pillow that was in front of my face.

“Not yet. I got food on the way and I haven’t seen you in forever.”

I heard a crash of her body onto the couch across from me. I didn’t bother looking at her. I knew who she was and what she looked like. Felicity was the cutest adorable nerd to exist. I needed to find a guy like that for her, but I am not sure if that is truly possible. I was, now, busy with my nose in her pillows that smelled like sweet flowers.

“Fine. What is there to catch up on?”

Felicity looked at me from her purple couch. She held a blue pillow to her chest as she stared up at the ceiling. The ceiling of her apartment was white and boring, however, she made the room much more brighter as well as funner. It was like she a happy nuclear bomb or something. I couldn't tell you because I wasn't really into history or wars.

“Well, I don’t know.”

I tried to think of things that would make me think. I couldn’t really think of anything but how to make my body keep running. How to breathe. Blink. Breathe again. My life in the last ten years have been hell, and nothing more than Hell. There was nothing that could be the worse thing next to that. It was the worst thing that happened to me.

“Any boy friends?”

She let out a short laugh. I wonder why she found it so hard to see the fact that people liked her and even cared for her. I knew that there was a guy out there for Felicity. Maybe he was another nerdy tech guy who wore a trench coat to work, had a Harry Potter poster at his desk, and played every video game known to mankind. I wondered if a guy like that existed. Maybe even a guy out there for me.

“No, but looks like you might have a crush on Oliver Queen.”

I laughed at her. He was attractive, but he was extremely out of my league. He was rich while I was poor. There was no way on this planet that I could fall in love with Oliver Queen and get him to fall in love with me. Oliver Queen looked like the guy who wanted a rich fancy white girl to just sleep with him. I wasn’t rich and I didn’t want to sleep with anyone ever again.

“Who wouldn’t?”

We both sat there laughing. Everybody loved themselves a rich white billionaire playboy who could help them in all the right and wrong ways. Be their drug dealer, gun dealer, and pleasure. Oliver, I felt was different from that. I felt like he was someone who I could trust and listen to if I needed help or anything at all. “True, but you got his number.”

I looked down at the piece of paper that was hanging out of my pocket. How badly I just wanted to call him and say that I would take the job, but then there was that other part of me that said not to because what if I had a complete panic attack.

“Should I take the job?" I looked over at her and smiled. She looked back with a large smile. I ducked as she threw another pillow at me. We were grown women having a pillow fight, and everything was just perfect. “Hell yeah.” I laughed at her expression as I tossed another pillow her way. I rolled off the couch, and crawled behind it. Felicity got the same idea and quickly did the same. I threw my pillows at her and ducked as her’s came flying.

“Why so I can be more closer to him?”

“Isn’t that kind of the point?”

I fell over onto the floor as another pillow hit me hard in the arm. My concussion I didn’t care about. I would be fine as I threw more pillows over at Felicity. I rolled my eyes at her as she helped me up off the wood floor. The wooden floor was oddly enough comfortable for me. I was never comfortable on wooden floors.

“Whatever.”

Pizza got there in a flash. The smell of it was intoxicating to my nose. The smell was overwhelmingly good. As a matter of fact, it smelled like a little slice of heaven. We ate the pizza, drank our Coke, and listened to some of our old favorite songs. Songs that I would sing myself to sleep each night. The songs that might have kept me human while men rapped me and used me as their little toy.

“I don’t know what is happening anymore.”

I stated as I crashed onto the couch for the second time that night. This time, however, I curled up with Felicity’s warm yellow blanket over my body. I was exhausted from today and all I really wanted to do now was rest on the couch.

“What do you mean?”

I sighed as my mind tried to find a way to explain to Felicity what was on my mind without crying on her couch and using up all of her tissues. My mind calculated every word that it possibly could, but nothing came up to mind. I finally just went with whatever I could say at that point.

“I’m twenty seven and turning twenty eight in a few months.”

“I know. Goodnight Elizabeth.” Felicity smiled humbly.

I slowly closed my eyes and crashed in her couch. There was no way of fighting of this sleepiness. I was tired, and I probably had a good reason to be tired. I was raped, abused, and almost killed. I think I deserve a vacation in the Bahamas away from people for a relaxing day. That was all I wanted in life.My dreams were nothing special to me as they filled themselves with the haunting memories of the last past few years.

_~*~_

_"ELIZABETH!"_

_I ran from the living room to the kitchen as fast as I could. Sliding across the tiles almost into the fridge. I smiled at father politely, but he growled at me with an evil scowl across his face. This was always our relationship. The moment he laid eyes on me in the hospital he was disgusted by me. Father always wanted a son, but instead God blessed him with a pathetic excuse of a daughter._

_"Yes, father?" I has asked as kindly as one could._

_His fingers pointed towards the sink that was filled with two bowls and a cup. I sighed realizing that I forgot to do them. I frowned as I was forced to look at the floor with_ _his anger quickly draping itself over my thimble form. The anger was like a nuclear bomb as it went off from him; the source. I felt weaker than normal, more worthless than I already was, and part of me wanted to drop dead on the floor in front of him. Maybe then he would be proud of me._

_"Why aren't these dishes done?"_

_I began to stutter, "I-I was just h-h-heading to to do them, father."_

_I felt a sting across my face as his hand collided with it. I stumbled backward in pain ignoring my drunk father to do the dishes. I started the warm water and put dish soap on the small blue sponge. I started to scrub the chili sauce of each of the bowls before the pain hit my back. I was shoved into the sink with my hands forced under the water. My father turned the water temperature up. I tried to fight, but I couldn't. Once I broke free I walked away from him._

_"Don't you dare ignore me, young lady!" He hollered at the top of his lung shaking the whole room with his thunderous voice._

_I looked at him with fear in my eyes. Fear of what happened to the sweet loving father I once knew. What happened to the man who would tuck me in at night and tell me how much he loved me? What happened to the man who would kiss me goodbye when I left the house? Where was the father or the man in my life that I could love? Where was the love and the calming talks when I was upset? Where did the man I call father go? Well, the sad thing was he seemed to have died a long time ago. Maybe before I came around._

_Words could almost never form in these situations. "I-I wasn't ignoring you. I was just starting the dishes."_

_Hit after hit came down upon me. The pain radiated everywhere as the hits kept coming to me. I finally fell to the floor in complete pain. I couldn't move anymore as blood dripped from my lips. I listened to the sound of his angry footsteps, the sound of running water, and the phone being_  
_dialed._

_"I knew I should I have sold you years ago. Now I am going to sell you for sure!"_

_I held out my hand trying to get him to stop calling. I knew where he was going to send me. That was a life that no girl should ever be sold into. Yet I was watching myself being sold into it. I was a mere slave to my father and not his daughter._

_"Father! Please! Don't do this!"_

_"Too late!"_

_~*~_

"Hey! Elizabeth! It's okay. It's gonna be okay, I promise. It's gonna be okay."

Her attempt to cool me down was not working very well. I stood up from the couch. I needed air while she went into the other room to call someone. I walked out of the apartment. My footsteps quickened as I ran out of there. My feet led me down the alleys of the city to where I found myself near the place I called home. I walked across the cool wet grass past the iron gate. My feed led me to the stone where I felt the most comfort. I knelt down before the grave and ran my hands over the cold glass covered picture of my family in it. I ran my hand over the saying on it.

 _**Natasha Faith Richardson-Carpenter** _  
_**Loving Mother and Wife** _

  
"Why are you running?"

I froze at the sound of the deep dark voice behind me. I looked behind me to see the hooded man with his arrows and bow behind him. His eyes were staring at me coldly. I shivered as the swift breeze hit. I was only wearing a shirt and skirt with my black flats. This man was dangerous from what I heard, but I had never seen him in person before. Almost no one saw him in person. I must have been lucky for him visiting me or this was my end.

"You." Damn it! Why couldn't I speak correctly? "You're him. Are you here to kill me?"

He shook his head that he wouldn't harm me. There was a sigh of relief on my part, and I was glad he wouldn't since I haven't really done anything wrong. All I have ever been in my life is wronged. I have been hurt by crime and wrong doings in this city, and I was very much done with it. Life treated me like shit, and so did everybody else in my life. Felicity might be the only one to have not been like that to me. She is the mother and a friend figure in my life.

"I don't just kill people. I help them. Now, are you in danger Miss. Carpenter?" He asked so kindly, but the fact that he called me  _Miss. Carpenter_ threw me off a little bit because I hated my last name. I wanted to throw it away and take my mother's last name of Richardson. 

"I don't know. My mind is haunting me and I can't run from that, but I can always run home."

I looked down at the stone picture of my mother. She was so beautiful in that picture. Smiling so beautifully up at you each time you visited. It was as if the ghost in that photo wanted to have a conversation with you. Like it was calling out to you for anything to hear about. As if my mother was still with me and by my side telling me that, "Everything is gonna be okay. You just gotta have a little faith in the Lord." Unfortunately, I've never really been to church, and in a way couldn't care. It seems that the Lord keeps wronging me and doesn't give a damn about what I say or do. 

"Whose grave?" He asked as he slowly took baby steps towards me. I wasn't going to hurt him. I wasn't the one with the bow and the pointy arrows.

I looked from him to the grave again. I moved towards it as if I was moving towards my mother like I did ages ago. I slowly placed a very soft kiss on my mother's forehead, and stood up almost falling over onto my rear end. Tears slowly fell away from my eyes as I looked at it. My hazel eyes wafted over to the vigilante's blue eyes. Those soft blue eyes that gave me chills as I looked into them. God, did I want to walk over there and kiss him. I sometimes found danger attractive, and this vigilante was pretty darn attractive.

"My mother's. She died when I was little, and after than my father jumped off the deep end." I wanted to stop, but I kept going. "Then he sold me, and the rest of the story was made public."

"I am sorry."

I growled at his choice in words. I shoved passed him and walked towards the gate, but then I turned around to show him a point and to fix his mistake. I always gave people second chances so why couldn't I give him a second chance? He was human underneath that mask and hood. A mess up human who had a past of hell. He was like me in some way, and I was going to figure out how he was like me.

"Don't be sorry." I growled, and by doing that I shocked him. "I was in an office today with Oliver Queen and he said 'Oh you're that girl' I am defined by my father's actions! I shouldn't be. I want to be me, and be known as Elizabeth Carpenter. Not as a sex slave to rich, drunk, sexist, and rapists!" I sighed, brushed my hands, and hopped off my little soapbox. I still, however, felt like I was still on it. I was always in a mood to talk to people, and even yell at them. Maybe it was my way of getting out my anger instead of punching people or objects.

"Can I at least walk you home."

I looked down at the ground shaking my head. A four letter word that was something I have been deprived of for a very long time. My hazel eyes looked back into his eyes. There was something I saw. Concern.

"Home? I don't have a home."

He smiled as he talk breaking his ever so dark character. "You just ran from an apartment complex."

"Are you stalking me?" I placed my hand on my hips as I stared at him with a look. He looked around shaking his head. He was stalling for some odd reason.

"No. Keeping an eye."

I slowly narrowed my eyes making him shift uncomfortably. I had one of those effects on people which could some days be a blessing. My mother always wanted me to be a school teacher, but I am not sure how well that will work out. I have her diary filled with things she wanted me to do. All the words she could never say written down in elegant black pen hand writing.

"Same thing." I growled.

"Do you want me to follow you?" He had asked with the sound of slight hope.

"Yes." Why did I say that? "But I don't want to see you again until I call you." I thought for a very short brief moment. "Is there a way to call you?"

He pulled a phone out, and it was black as well as new. I looked at it trying to figure how to turn it on. It was a black box with buttons, and I finally tapped the circle one and it turned on. Brightly too, which blinded me completely. I looked over at the vigilante who was smiling. I don't think anyone has ever seen him smile before, but I have. The smile that made butterflies rise in your stomach the moment that smile took shape.

"You can call or text me, but it is not traceable."

Texting? What was that? Man did I have a lot to catch up on. I looked up at him with a smile and my brain yelling at me to hug him. I looked at him and saw a tall green cactus so I wasn't really willing to hug him, but then again I had that strong urge to hug and kiss him. I knew, however, that would never ever happen in a million years.

"Thanks." I smiled politely back.

"Anything to help you."

We walked out of the graveyard together. Our footsteps were the only thing I could hear next to the sound of my very loud beating heart. I listened to the thudding of it wondering when it would stop being so loud. The sound of the pints of blood being directed around in those tiny little tubes around my body. How many of those tubes have been damaged over time because of beatings and cuts? How many scars those tunes had scared me.

"Are you a good advice giver?"

He shook his head as he looked around to see if anything was following us. I thought that everyone wanted to stay away from him since he has killed people before. I was walking down an alleyway with a killer. I shivered and I knew he noticed, but I told myself not to notice. He was also a hero, and I was not Lois Lane waiting for Superman.

"Not really, but I can try."

"Oliver Queen offered me a job and I am not sure if I can do it."

"Why not?"

I let out another long as well as depressing sigh, "Well, in sex trafficking they force you to do things. In my case they made me wear outfits that," I paused thinking of the word to use, "Made me uncomfortable because that was against my morals to look like a whore. If he makes me wear a maid outfit to clean I might loose it. I mean. I'd also feel bad for him to see that."

"Oliver Queen is a nice man, and I think you'll be able to work without an issue. If there are any let me know and I can talk to him."

We finally made it back to the apartment complex. It shone bright in all it's glory. Somewhere in those walls was a upset Felicity. As a matter of fact a very very upset Felicity. I wonder if she already put out an Amber Alert for me being missing.

"Thanks for walking me. Go home wherever that is, and if you have a family be them. I'm with Felicity and I will call you if I need anything."

I stood on my tip toes since I was so short and placed a kiss on his cheek. God, did that feel right but oh so wrong. He looked down at me with slight care. I knew no girl has probably ever done that, but the guy under that hood had a life, maybe a wife or a girlfriend. I was praying to God that I didn't just ruin his relationship with someone. Why was I praying to God. I looked down depressed at the ground to see my flats. He placed his gloved hand on my chin and lifted it up. There again was that smile of his that made me smile.

"Goodnight." I kissed him once more, but on the lips this time.

He held me close to him, and he slowly pulled away but he held me close to him.

"Goodnight." He kissed my forehead.

I started to walk towards the building, but when I looked back at him he was gone. I quickly walked back into the apartment complex into Felicity's apartment where she started yelling at me in tears for running off. I told her I just went to visit my mother's grave. She told me that I needed to stay there until I could get money for a new apartment.

"You got any coffee? I am tired of my nightmares."

She smiled, "Yeah over the in the kitchen. I am going to bed, so try not to be too loud."

I nodded as I made my way to the kitchen to start a cup of coffee. I pulled out Oliver's number and stared at it for a very long time. The number was slowly eating away at me. I took a sip of my coffee which was black. My eyes looked out the window at the building across the street. There for a moment, I thought a shadow, but I think it was my mind playing tricks on me.

**Thanks for reading! Leave a comment for some more of the story, and leave a Kudos if you liked it! Love you all so much!**


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